> More questions: > > * Mule, Horse or Elephant, that is how much payload and is > it capable of carrying people? The classic Jeep is called > a quarter-ton truck, and it can carry four ...
I pitched it as an outsize quad cyberbike, able to carry a very good load. Or a chevaline [robot horse]. He wanted me to go with a jeep and I said a Mule and we went at it via the Firefly interpretation - then I showed him the MULE on Future Weapons and he was sold. He said it had to be a 'horse', so the cargo arm and the periscope. I argued against a gunmount as that seemed to be too optimised. Also I wanted the Mule at about 75% optimal capability I 'sketched' the Mule as an ATV/quadbike on PCP: A bulky body covered with battered and flakily painted hull with some original and some after-production access panels - some welded shut. Skeletonised pipe framed cargo brackets sit over the front limb/wheel mounts and the back half of the body. A 'drivers' seat sits over the front third of the body - other fold out seats hang on either side - this seat has big footrests, cup holders and an umbrella bracket. A cooler is attached to the side of it and wired into the body. The framework is battered, chipped and wrapped in tape and cord, with the platform sections made of different materials from metal wire grids, thru leather and cloth and so-on. Boxes of laminate shamboo, dense resin and structural alloy are tied, bungeed and statglued to the frame; they are travel stained and cosmetically damaged. A metallic box has stripy carbon-scarring like its been flailed with DEW fire. The robot arm judders thru the start movements. Its three parts are from three different models and the fingers of the hand are mismatched and tend to make it look like the bot is giving you the finger. If wheeled: The wheel hubs dont match, they are different types, colours and conditions and a new wrapped wire spare sits over the headlamps. If legged: The back legs are from a larger model of walker, reset to balance evenly - they make the mule look somewhat like a giant rabbit. The footings are turned alloy with steel rivets like giant hobnail boots. All colour, but I think they allow for some flaws that have come from ill-use, age and half-assed repair. ...I wonder if I can get the GM to agree to a Frankenstein AI? Age, repair kludges and associated affection from users have socialised it sufficiently to allow it to go beyond programming... ...or is that as screamingly cliché as I think it is? > * Can it listen and speak? Technically, synthesizing speech > is a lot easier than analyzing it, but a "mule" which can > listen but not talk is closer to the stereotype - think > R2D2. I dont think it is supposed to talk - but that may be in development... _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
